Sister Wilwand: Half-way!

That's right! It's been 9 months since I've left home! Yesterday was 9 months until I go home, and on Friday, it's 9 months since I got to the MTC. Woo! Crazy. Time goes by so fast!!

Oh, and WELCOME HOME TO MY BROTHER MATT!!!

Ok, we've had such a good week this week!!

We'll start with last week. Last week, we had exchanges with our STL's. I went with Sister Loo, and we were in our area. After one of our appointments, we decided to go tracting for a little bit. Well, the first house that we tracted, they let us in. At first I was a little worried that they were just being nice, but this family turned out to be amazing! They really were awesome! They really seem like they are ready for the gospel, and as a family as well, not just individually. It was so cool to meet them! We're going back to them on Sunday, so I'm praying that our lesson with them will go well!

Next, we had a fantastic Sunday! We had so many less-actives come to church! Some of them, we've been working with for a long time. One of them actually got up and bore his testimony. It was the best!! We were so excited to see him up on the stand in front of everyone. I loved it! We've just been having so much success lately with our less-actives. And then later that night, we contacted a referral, and she seemed like she is so ready for the gospel! Oh my goodness. She was amazing. We didn't get to teach her yet, but just from talking to her, she seems great!

A typical jeepney - a missionary's main mode of transportation

A little P-Day fun

On Monday, we had our 'Meet the President'. Let me tell you, it was a bit different having a new mission president and wife, but the Bertins are way awesome! We had some amazing talks and workshops, and we had a interview with both of the Bertins. It really was such a good experience to get to meet them! I know for sure that they have been called by God specifically for our mission. I'm excited to be able to serve the rest of my mission with them.

New Mission President!

Today, we've had a way good day so far as well!! We got to go to the temple today, and I loved it! It was truly amazing. It was nice to be able to be in there with all of the missionaries in our zone, and just to feel the peace and comfort that can come from being inside the temple. I have such a strong testimony of the temple!!

The beautiful Manila Temple

Sister Wilwand, Sister Apolinario, Sister Miner and Sister Rasmussen after attending the temple

Other than that, we've had some good time and some hard times. We found out that our baptism that was scheduled for July 26th is not going to go through. And we understand why, so it's ok. The baptism is just on hold for a little while, it's not officially off. So that's good. But we've been having success in so many other areas!

Now we'll talk about yesterday. This may include a little soul searching/baring (bearing?), so stick with me here.

Yesterday, we had some amazing workshops from our STLs and our ZLs at our zone training meeting. It really was the best. I especially liked our zone leaders workshop. Theirs was all about being bold and being confident. Ok, now you get to see a little piece of my soul. If you know me really really well, you may or may not know this, but I am actually pretty shy around people when I first meet them. Around my friends or family, I'm pretty outgoing. I like people to laugh and smile and have a good time, but when there are a whole bunch of new people around, I sometimes (most of the time) just don't even have any idea what to say to people, so I just stay quiet. (You can all take some time to marvel in that... I know, it's weird right! =P.. But, it's true.) Obviously, when you're out in the mission field, you have to talk to people every single day. It's hard. I'm not going to lie. This is one of the hardest parts of missionary work for me, is just talking to random people. But yesterday, our zone leaders gave us a workshop about confidence and being bold. Have confidence in Christ, and be bold with your testimony. This can apply to each and every single one of us.

I'd like to share with you a scripture: Romans 1:16... It says this: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." I LOVE this. I especially love this first line. Let me emphasize one thing. Don't you ever be ashamed of being a member of this church. EVER. Don't you even dare. It is NOT something to be ashamed of. It is something to hold proud in your heart and on your face every single moment of every single day. Don't you ever give it up for anything. As a missionary, I get to wear the evidence of that membership on my chest everyday, but you guys aren't so lucky. You have to show people. Be confident in Christ. He is the only sure foundation that we have on this earth, and He is the only one that will support us forever. Do not ever be ashamed of being His. Do not ever be ashamed of taking His name upon you when you were baptized. I know with all my hear that this church is true, and I'm proud to be a missionary who gets to represent Christ every single day. I hope that when I face Him in the next life, that He will say that He was proud of me. That would be the best thing I could ever hope for. I say these things in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Remember to look up and always believe in Christ.

Love,

Sister Wilwand